Healthcare Education and Q&A Thread

[Schneed10]

Came across this article, thought it a very worthwhile read. It presents both sides' views on the Canadian healthcare system.

Reality check: Canada's government health care system - CNN.com

The realities are:

- Canada does have a longer life span and they spend less on healthcare. This does not at all mean you can conclude they have a better healthcare system, because A) they're not nearly as obese as the US and B) their docs & nurses make less than ours and their patients exhibit lower healthcare utilization.

- Access to care is restricted due to a shortage of physicians and an overabundance of citizens with healthcare coverage. If you're in shitty shape, with a brain tumor or something, you'll get seen swiftly. But if you're just dealing with something painful, like a knee replacement, you've got to wait 3 months. This results in lower healthcare costs because many people say 'ya know what, screw it, seeing a doctor isn't worth it.' In other words, Canada's lower healthcare spend is not so much due to lower costs, it's due to simply not going to the doctor.

This speaks to the issue we began trying to define in this thread: what does "quality" healthcare mean? Is it good enough to provide a balance between life-saving treatments, coping with pain as you wait for non-life-saving treatments, and lower costs? Or like everything else in the world, will we Americans demand more? Ask yourself, are you OK with waiting 3 months for a procedure to replace a hip or knee?

If we demand more, we better be ready to pay for it.